Hell Hath No Fury
by Be Beautifully Beautiful
Summary: Her enemies believed that they had defeated her. They believed that they had won. Back with a vengeance, Elizabeth will stop at nothing to make them all pay for what they had done. One way or another, they will all suffer the force of her wrath. (Liason Endgame)
1. Where Her Story Ends?

Elizabeth could hear their footsteps as they approached, fear clouding every thought as she holds her breath, needing them to believe that she was dead. They couldn't know the truth. They couldn't know that she was alive and that they had not succeeded in ending her life. If she had any chance of surviving, they just couldn't know.

"What do we do now?" Courtney, the most naive of the group, questions, looking to the other two for guidance.

"What else is there to do?" Sam, the brawn of the group, voices. "We have to get rid of her body."

"Obviously." Carly, the leader of the trio, scoffs, glaring down at the limp body before her. "But where?"

"We're on the winding road." Sam points out, gesturing to the edge of the cliff. "Why not toss her off?"

As the words escaped Sam's lips, Elizabeth fought her hardest not to squeal in fear, every part of her scared for her life. For as long as she has known them, she had never imagined it would come down to this, never once. After all it took to remove herself from the life of the man that she had loved so dearly, she has still found her life in the hands of the obsessed trio.

"Are you insane?" Courtney snapped in shock. "We can't throw her off the side of the cliff!"

"Why the hell not?" Sam counters seriously. "Its clean and easy."

"Clean and easy?" Courtney shakes her head, unable to understand her friend. "Her body can land anywhere. If she's found before every trace of us can wash away, we're screwed."

"For once, Court's right." Carly squats down, eyeing the bane of her existence carefully. "No...we need to find somewhere that's cut off from society. Somewhere that no one visits."

"What place in all of Port Charles could possibly fit that bill?" Sam snaps, completely exasperated with the situation. "I say we just toss her and be done with it."

"Relax, my thick friend." Carly rises to her feet, meeting her friend's eyes. "I've got the perfect place to toss muffin face."

"Fine." Sam concedes, rolling her eyes as she tosses her arms up. "Lets just get this over with already."

"I second that." Courtney voices, wrapping her arms around her as the cold hits her swiftly. "This place is seriously creepy. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

Immeasurable amounts of pain surges through her as they lift her up from the ground, tossing her into the trunk of Carly's Lexus without any care or compassion. Fighting every survival instinct bubbling up within her, Elizabeth remains completely still as they slam the trunk shut, locking her within its small confines.

As hard as it was, she tries to take in small breathes, refusing to allow the smell of her own blood to send her into shock. She can't pass out. Not now. Not with her life hanging in the balance. Especially not with the obsessed trio dictating her fate. No. She can't pass out. She just can't.

"Are you sure she won't be found here?" Sam questions Carly as they carry her to the furthest part of the ruins.

"Trust me." Carly states seriously, her breathing becoming labored, wondering how her boyfriend's men did this for a living. "No one will ever find her. Not until its too late that is."

"Great, they won't find her, we're safe." Courtney states quickly. "Can we get out of here now? This place is worse than where we ran her over."

"Relax, Girly." Carly chuckles, dusting her hands off once they tossed the body. "We're almost done."

It would be what felt like hours before the trio get into the Lexus and speed away from the abandoned ruins. As if fate was playing on their side, thunder rumbles through the skies, louder than any thunder ever heard before. Just as the trio walk through the doors of the Harbor View Towers, the coldest of rains begin to pour down on the small, quaint town, slowly killing the chances of her survival.

"We're to never speak of this again. Not to each other, not to anyone! As far as anyone's concerned this night never happened!" Carly states, eyeing both women sternly. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Courtney voices, knowing that the threat was mainly focused on her. "I won't breathe a word of this. I swear."

"Its already forgotten." Sam states with a shrug, turning away from the trio. "Sweet dreams, ladies. I have a feeling I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight."

And, just like that, as if what they had done never really happened, the trio return to their homes to sleep the storm away. For who wouldn't sleep well knowing that their enemy was no longer a problem? With Elizabeth out of the way, the paragon of virtue, all their lives could finally be what they want it to be. They could finally have it all. Finally!


	2. Stitched Up

Gathering whatever strength she possessed, Elizabeth pushes the tarp off of her, giving no care to the rain pouring down upon her. She could feel her life slowly draining from her body and she didn't have much time. She had to find help and she had to find it fast.

Crawling in the mud, unable to get to her feet on her own, she groans in pain, forcing her body to keep moving. Inch by painful inch, she crawls, tears falling from her eyes like the rain from the sky, desperately begging herself to not give up. To not stop.

Before long she finds herself atop of the bridge over Black Stone Canyon, realizing where they had tossed her, making this all the more painful. Forcing the memories to recede within her mind, she clutches onto the railing to inch her way onto her feet, hoping and praying that she could walk.

Slowly, her legs bring her back to the road, her knees giving out just as she steps into the middle of the lanes, no longer able to hold her up against the pain. Her faith and hope begin to diminish, her heart starting to believe that she really wasn't going to survive this, that the obsessed trio have finally bested her. That they had finally won.

Until, out of nowhere, she hears the sound of tires screeching, forcing her eyes to open just as what looked like a Mustang comes to an abrupt stop in front of her. For a moment, she's frightened, unsure of whether the person was on Carly's orders to make sure she was dead or not, but her hope rekindles with the man steps out of the car to aid her.

"What the hell?" the man voices as he rushes over to her. "Hey, what happened to you?"

"Help." she manages to say, her body slowly going into shock. "Please. Help. Me."

Glancing around him, the man wasn't sure he wanted to place himself in the middle of whatever this was, but the pleading look on Elizabeth's face seals the deal for him. Gently lifting her into his arms, he carries her gingerly to his car, placing her in the passenger side before buckling her up, needing to get off the road as fast as possible. For her sake and his.

Sprinting to his side of the car, he slams the gas, driving as fast as his sports car could take him away from the spot he had found her. Faster and faster, he speeds, afraid for the woman that has found her way into his life. With a mark on his back, he didn't need to put that on her, but she asked for his help and that's what she'll get.

"Finally." he whispers just as his cabin comes into view, bringing his car to an abrupt stop in front of the steps. "You just might live to regret asking me for help, but here we are."

Making his way over to the other side of the car, he yanks open the door and lifts her up into his arms, needing to get her inside as fast as possible. From the looks of her, she won't last too long without some kind of medical assistance. Fortunately for her, he's accustomed to patching up people at their worst, a skill that comes in handy with the life he leads.

"Really gotta work out more." he mutters to himself as he carries her through the threshold, finding himself a little out of breath. "Maybe...a lot more."

Laying her down on the closest couch, he quickly gets to work in gathering the items that he'll need to patch her up. Hot water, surgical instruments (albeit makeshift instruments, but it'll do), and the medication works. With everything gathered, he returns to the couch, finding that he was thankful to find that she was unconscious. For both their sake, it was probably best that way.

"God, I hope this doesn't kill you." he mutters hours later after stitching her up, stabbing a needle full of antibiotics into her before emptying the contents. "If you can hear me, I just gave you an antibiotics shot."

Feeling completely stupid for talking to a woman that's unconscious, he starts the trivial task of clearing up after himself, finding the sight of blood more than a little disconcerting. Ironic for a man like him, but its true. The mere sight of blood sends a sick feeling into the pit of his stomach that takes a long time to get rid of. Sometimes days.

With nothing more he could think to do for her, he decides to sit down at the piano, finding that losing himself in the music always eases the whatever tension he feels, whether its induced by his father or otherwise. With the added pressure of being responsible for the woman passed out on his couch, he finds that he needs his music now more than ever.

For hours on end the music floats through the small cabin, warding off the silence that usually haunts the halls of the place, inadvertently helping Elizabeth relax into a peaceful slumber. As the melody surrounds her, she finds she can feel some sense of peace as her body begins the long battle to recover.

* * *

_**Hi! Hi! I won't do too many of these author notes, but I would like to say that all reviews are appreciated! If you have questions, PM me, I promise I'll reply. Anyway, this is just a thanks for all previous reviews and future ones! Hope you'll enjoy this and the others to come! Thanks!**_


	3. Carly Goes Tech

Waking up in the early hours of the day, Carly makes her way over to her computer, feeling the need to take extra precautions to ensure that no one goes looking for Elizabeth. While the other two are okay with allowing everyone to start questioning Elizabeth's disappearance, she knows that she can't allow it to happen.

Regardless of how things ended between her best friend and the muffin face, she knows that he will do whatever it took to find her if he believed that she's truly in trouble. Something that she just couldn't afford to let happen. He's just finally letting Sam into his life. Finding out that something happened to the muffin face will put a stop to that completely.

"Time to rid you from our lives for good."

Thanks to her snooping skills, she has been able to pick up a few tricks here and there from watching Stan, her boyfriend's computer guy, giving her enough skills to pull this off. Sure, there will be a ripple affect through the people that love the muffin face, but she doesn't care about that. As long as it doesn't look like she's in danger, Jason will stay out of it and that's all that matters.

After all the effort she had put into ridding their lives of the ever perfect muffin face, she refuses to let things go to hell in the home stretch. If she can get people to believe the lie for a month, then she and the other two will be home free. After a month, anything can happen to the muffin face that lack of contact wouldn't be suspicious.

* * *

Standing outside of Jason's penthouse, Sam couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Things between them have gradually turned into the something more and she couldn't afford to scare him away. After all it has taken to get her this chance with him, she refuses to screw it up.

"Sam." he greets her when he opens the door, securing his gun at the small of his back at the sight of her. "You okay?"

"Me? Yeah, of course." she waves away his concern, touched that he would care to ask. "Can I come in?"

"I was just heading out." he says before taking a deep breath and stepping aside. "But, yeah, okay."

Smiling slightly, she walks past him into his penthouse, finding his acceptance of her as a good sign. Up until recently, he wouldn't even entertain her, much less when he was already on his way out. For him to put on hold whatever he was heading out to do, suffice to say that it only proved to strengthen her confidence.

"I know you're busy, so, I'll make this quick." she says after a long moment, realizing that he was waiting for her to tell him why she was there. "Would you want to have dinner with me tonight?"

"Dinner?" he says in an almost confused manner. "With you?"

"Don't go into shock now, Jason." she laughs to cover her nerves. "Its not like I'm asking for you to take me on one of your assignments for Sonny. Its just dinner."

For a long moment, he simply stares at her, making her wonder what he could possibly be thinking. He has told her countless times that he just wasn't ready to get back into dating, something she has been trying desperately to change his mind on. Of course it was to no avail every time.

"Sam..." he says in that tone that he always uses when turning her down, causing her to cut him off swiftly.

"Just dinner, Jason, I swear." she says with conviction. "You do have to eat, right?"

"Okay." he says with a sigh, checking his watch before opening the door. "As long as we're clear that its just dinner."

"Yeah, of course, just dinner."

"Okay."

"Eight o'clock at the Grill?"

"Sure."

Leaving while she's ahead, Sam makes her way over to Carly and Sonny's penthouse, smiling slightly at Jason as he makes his way to the elevator. For a brief moment, he stops in front of the elevator, lifting his hand in a slight wave before stepping through the doors, causing a slight sense of butterflies to flutter within her. It scared her how even the smallest gestures from him send her into girly mode.

* * *

Stretching the fatigue from his body, he rises with the sun to check on the woman that has the unfortunate fate of finding her life in his hands, something that she probably wouldn't have done willingly if she had known who he was.

Shaking his head abruptly, reminding himself that this wasn't about him, that she had been hurt and in need of help, he proceeds to the living room to make sure that he hadn't inadvertently killed her while trying to save her.

Checking her temperature, grateful when she only had a slight fever, he continues his venture to the bathroom to gather more medical supplies, needing to change her bandages. From the looks of her, she was starting to heal, but it would take a lot more before she would be out of the proverbial woods.

As he starts to clean her wounds, trying his best to ignore the blood on the bandages, he takes several deep breaths to control himself. In spite of how much blood he has seen in his lifetime, for the life of him, he still can't help but be affected by the sight of it.

"You..." she voices on a whisper, taking him by surprise when he looks at her face to see her eyes slightly open. "You...saved...me."

"What can I say?" he voices, chuckling slightly to mask his nerves. "I have a serious case of white knight syndrome. Its a curse."

"Thank you." she whispers after staring into his eyes for a long moment, making him more and more uncomfortable under her intense gaze, especially in her condition.

"No sweat." he shrugs off her gratitude. "Uh, just so I can stop referring to you as the girl that knelt in front of my car, you got a name?"

"Liz."

"Liz." he shakes his head briefly. "I'm Johnny."

"Johnny." she whispers, smiling slightly before her eyes begin to close again. "Th..thank you, Johnny."

The pure tone of gratitude in her voice caused him to feel more than a little uncomfortable, never having been the hero before in his life. He's been a lot of things, but never the hero. For someone to show or feel such gratitude towards him, it was definitely a first for him.

Taking a deep breath, he rises to his feet to cover her with the afghan on the back of the couch, finding that he has done all he can do for her. Later on, he'll try to get her to eat something, but he'll let her rest for now. From the looks of it, rest was definitely a priority at this point. The more she got, the better.

Settling in at his piano, once again, he starts to play his favorite melody, finding that it relaxed him the most. Like the night before, the soft melody slowly helps Elizabeth drift off into a peaceful slumber, bringing with it a calm atmosphere to help her relax further. While the antibiotics help ward off infection, her body has begun to do what it does best, rejuvenate. Before long, she'll be back to normal and their encounter will be nothing but a distant memory.


	4. Art of Letting Go

Trudging into her bedroom after a long day interning at the hospital, Emily Quartermaine drops her body onto her bed, without any care to how she lands. Regardless of how prepared she felt going into this field of choice, the reality of it was worse than anything she had imagined.

With a heavy sigh, she rolls over onto her stomach, hearing the beeping sound from her computer, signalling a new message in her inbox. Knowing that it was probably from one of her friends, she calls up her three best friends one at a time, hoping that she could avoid reading for the rest of the day.

Getting Elizabeth's voice mail, she continues on to call the two brothers, unable to refrain from groaning when both deny sending her anything. With the suggestion that its probably from Elizabeth, she hangs up her phone to try her best friend's cellphone again, getting her voice mail, again.

"Dang it, Liz." she sighs, reaching out to pull her computer onto her bed. "You're seriously going to make me read after the day I just had...fine."

Opening up her inbox, Emily clicks on the new message, finding that it was indeed from Elizabeth. Only, much to her dismay, it had been the email she had been hoping she'd never receive. After all the time they spent talking about it, how leaving wasn't the right choice, Elizabeth goes and does this.

"Seriously wish I had just gone to sleep." she mutters, reading Elizabeth's email for a second time. "You just don't play fair, Liz."

* * *

_Hey Em,_

_I really hate saying goodbye like this, but we both know I'd never be able to do it person._  
_Its just time for me to leave and I hope you can understand that. Let the other's know, okay?_  
_I love you and I will miss you always. Take care, Em._

_Always,_  
_Elizabeth_

_p.s. Tell Jason...tell him I said goodbye. He'll understand._

* * *

Pulling herself out of bed, Emily pushes her computer away before stripping down and making her way into her shower. If her best friend really believed that she would take this laying down, she had another thing coming. After everything they have been through, to say goodbye in an email, it just wasn't right.

For as long as they have talked about it, she never truly believed that either of them would leave the small town, finding it to be the place that they were both happiest. Regardless of the bad, the good always outweighed it, giving them the incentive to stay. For her to up and leave like this, it just didn't sit well with Emily.

Quickly getting dressed, she tells her parents that she's heading out before calling up the brothers and telling them to meet her at the diner. They would help her get to the bottom of it, she's sure of that much, for they both love Elizabeth just as much as she does, if not more.

"What the hell, Em? I was just in the middle of..." Lucky blurts out as he bursts through the diner doors, back tracking when he notices the other patrons. "...something. What's with the code red?"

"I'd like the answer to that, too." Nikolas voices as he walks in after his brother. "Why the urgency?"

"She did it!" Emily states seriously. "She really did it!"

"Who did what?" Lucky looks at her in confusion. "And why do I care?"

"Elizabeth!" she almost shouts. "She left town."

"What?!" Lucky looks at her in disbelief. "You're mistaken...you have to be. She wouldn't just up and leave."

"She emailed me, Lucky." Emily lowers her tone at the hurt look on his face. "She said it was time for her to leave and that it was goodbye."

"I...I can't believe this." Lucky drops down into a chair. "She really left? Just like that?"

"I can't believe it either." Nikolas voices, dropping into a chair beside his brother while Emily sits across from them. "Port Charles just won't be the same without her."

"None of us will be the same without her." Emily says with conviction. "Which is why we have to find her and bring her back."

"Emily..." Nikolas knew that this would be her reaction if Elizabeth ever made the choice to leave. "Its not our place to do that."

"Excuse me?" Emily looks at him in disbelief. "We're her best friends. When she makes a crazy choice to leave out of nowhere, its our place to talk sense into her and bring her back!"

"Its Elizabeth we're talking about." Nikolas points out. "Obviously she has given this a lot of thought and, even if we're not happy with it, we have to accept it."

"He's right." Lucky says after a long moment. "Elizabeth hasn't been happy. Not since she broke things off with your brother. If leaving is something she felt she needed to do...we have to accept it."

"I can't believe you two!" Emily rises to her feet. "Elizabeth's our best friend! We can't just let her go without actually talking to her about it!"

"It was her choice to leave, Emily." Nikolas rises to meet her eyes. "As hard as its going to be to let her go, its something we have to do."

"For as long as she believes leaving is what's best for her, there's nothing more we can do." Lucky rises to his feet, turning on his heels to leave. "I'll see you two later."

"I'm sorry, Em." Nikolas leans over, placing a soft kiss upon her forehead. "I hate it as much as you do, but I have to believe that she knows what she's doing and that this will help her find her happiness again."

"I just find it hard to believe that she'd leave out of nowhere like this."

"I'm sure she knew that we'd do whatever it took to talk her out of it." Nikolas takes a deep breath before pushing in his chair. "I know it'll be hard, but try to remember that leaving was always her last resort."

Watching him leave the diner, Emily felt her heart break apart, realizing that this was really happening. That her best friend was really gone and that there was nothing she could to change that. As hard as it is to accept, she knows that they're right, that Elizabeth's happiness had to matter more.

With a heavy heart, she makes her way to her brother's penthouse, knowing that she had to do it in person. As Elizabeth's best friend, she had to issue the goodbyes that she was too afraid to do herself, even if that goodbye was to her own brother.

"Em?" Jason's voice held concern at the sight of her. "You okay?"

"No...not really." she replies, her voice thick from the tears that have fallen and the ones still welling up in her eyes. "Elizabeth left town."

"W-what?" he couldn't believe his ears, obviously he had expected her to say something else, something that actually made sense. "What do you mean she left town?"

"She said..." Emily takes a deep breath to get the words out past her broken heart. "She said to tell you...she said goodbye."

Just like that, Emily watched while everything inside of her brother broke to pieces, like it had in her. Something she knows about them, something almost everyone knows about them, is that they never say goodbye to each other. Even when they broke up, it had never been goodbye. For Elizabeth to say it now...it was just heart breaking.

Closing the distance between them, Emily wraps her arms around her brother, the two siblings let their heart break out through their tears. It was the hardest thing for either of them to do, to let her go without a fight, but they both know that it's something they had to do. For Elizabeth's sake, they had to accept that she's gone.


	5. Trying Not to Love You

Shutting the door once his sister is on the elevator and making her way down to the lobby, heading home, Jason locks his front door before plopping down on his desk chair, needing to put his own mind at ease. Regardless of his number one rule, that everyone deserve to make their own choices, he couldn't help but want to make sure that she was safe.

"Stan." the business computer guy answers, his tone signalling that he was ready to get to work, if need be.

"I need a favor." Jason voices, unlocking the drawer of his desk that held everything he had left of his ex-girlfriend, sans the painting of the wind, pulling out the picture of them on their first anniversary. "Off the books."

"Name it." Stan says without hesitation, considering Jason a friend more than a boss. "If it can be done, it will be."

"I need you to track Elizabeth." he says with conviction. "She left town and..."

"You want to make sure she's okay." Stan finishes when Jason doesn't continue. "I'm on it."

"Thanks." he says with a sigh before placing the picture back into the drawer and locking it up. "Let me know when you got something."

Ending the call, he makes his way into the kitchen to grab a glass, finding that he needed a stiff drink. For a moment, he stands frozen, captivated by the painting hanging over the mantel. Clear as day, he can remember the night they hung that up, one of the many moments that will forever be frozen in time.

* * *

_"Jason!" she exclaimed through her laughter, trying to steady herself on the stepladder. "S..stop that! You're going to make me fall."_

_"Don't worry." he had replied with a slight smirk. "I'll catch you."_

_"Jaso...Jas...Jason!" she couldn't help the laughter that erupted from her as ran his fingers along the edges of her waist. "I almost...got it...Jason!"_

_"Told you, I'd catch you." he voices in that tone that always sends butterflies straight to the pits of her stomach. "Didn't I?"_

_"Yes, but now look at the painting." she gestures to the painting over the mantel. "Its completely crooked."_

_"Nah, it looks perfect." he counters, not even glancing at the painting in question. "Like you."_

_"You're lucky I love you." she laughs softly, interlocking her fingers at his nape. "You know you're going to fix that later, right?"_

_"I know." he whispers, placing a soft kiss upon her lips. "Later."_

* * *

Shaking his head at the memory, he continues his venture into the kitchen, finding that the memories will forever haunt him, but that it didn't have to hurt every time it did. That memory in particular is one of the memories that will always be a happy one. It was the night she had finally agreed to move in with him.

Snatching a glass from the cupboard, Jason picks up his favorite brand of alcohol from the wet bar before plopping down onto the couch, pouring himself a double. The more he thought of Elizabeth leaving town, the more it hurt, to know that she felt she had to leave after all this time. Sure, Port Charles wasn't always kind to her, but she loved it here.

Her family, as dysfunctional as they are, a family that could definitely give the Quartermaines a run for their money, was still her family. After all they had been through, she has finally gotten to a place that she can admit to loving them without being pained by the admission.

Her friends, her studio, everything she loves is in that town. For her to up and leave the way she did, without any notice, will always put a pain in his heart. Regardless of how things ended between them, he never imagined she'd leave like this. A part of him having believed that they'd find their way back to each other someday.

"Yeah?" he clears his throat, his voice thick with emotion. "Morgan."

"Not sure if this is supposed to make you feel better or not, but the airlines have Elizabeth boarding a plane to Italy." Stan divulges. "So far, her cellphone and credit cards have been off grid, but once it pops up, I'll track it and let you know where she ends up."

"Yeah...okay." he wasn't even sure how he felt about that, to have the conformation that she was really gone, but he accepted it. "Keep on it and get back to me if you get something."

"You got it."

"And Stan?" he downs another shot before setting the glass down. "Thanks for doing this. I owe you one."

"No, you don't." Stan assures. "Elizabeth was a good friend...I'm sad to hear she's gone."

"Yeah...me, too."

Ending the call, he tosses his cellphone onto the table, snatching up the glass and alcohol before heading upstairs. For tonight, Sonny and the rest of the world will have to fend for themselves, for Jason Morgan is officially taking a personal day. Even if he never imagined she'd leave, he has to believe that it was the right thing for her. That, at the end of the day, leaving will make her happy.


	6. This Means War

- One Month Later -

Kicking the door shut behind him as he walks into the cabin, Johnny could already hear the sound of Elizabeth stumbling through the kitchen, causing a slight groan to escape his lips. In all his life, he has never met anyone as stubborn as her, completely intent on pushing herself past her limit in order to get better.

"If you wanted to kill yourself, you shouldn't have knelt in front of my car." Johnny greets her as he walks into the kitchen. "Keep it up and you'll work yourself right back into being bedridden."

"I'm fine." she says with conviction, holding onto the counter as she tries to walk on her own. "I can almost...walk...on my own."

"Right." he scoffs, dropping the grocery down onto the counter before walking over to her and stopping her. "You need to pace yourself."

"Its been a month, Johnny." she says seriously. "I have to get my strength back."

"And you will." he assures her, his eyes softening at her tone. "But you have to pace yourself. It won't do you any good to push your body past its limit...trust me."

"Fine." she voices, allowing him to help her into a chair, feeling more than a little dejavuish about the whole situation. Memories of her time with Jason coming to mind. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic." he says teasingly, before grabbing her a bottle of water from the fridge. "Drink up."

"I'd prefer something stronger."

"Not while you're on pain killers and antibiotics." he says seriously, finding her taste for a alcohol a little humbling, having believed that she was some kind of miss perfect or something. "Now, are you feeling up to helping with dinner?"

"Sure." she says plainly, lifting her legs onto a chair when he pushes it in front of her, that knowing look in his eyes. "I guess."

Letting the conversation drop there, knowing that she was already desperate to get out of there and back to her life, Johnny puts the vegetables in front of her to chop while he gets started on the main dish. Things between them have gained a kind of balance, something he hadn't expected, but found to be preferable, given the circumstances.

While he starts humming his favorite rock song, Elizabeth couldn't help but feel like she would never get the strength back in her legs. When ran her down, her legs had taken the brunt of it all, making her recovery less than ideal.

Every morning she wakes up, her anger only proves to grow, finding more and more reasons to hate the obsessed trio. When her anger hits its peak, she finds that her mind begins to wonder if the trio really knew how badly they had screwed up by not making sure she was truly dead.

With every day, her overactive imagination begins to come up with ways to pay them back, anger fueling her every idea. The longer she's forced to hide away, the more precise her revenge becomes, making her almost sorry for the trio once she regains her strength. Almost.

"Ready to finish that conversation?" Johnny questions as they set the table for dinner.

"What more is there to say?" Elizabeth counters, inching her way into the chair, smacking his hand away when he tries to help her. "Come on, Johnny. If nothing else, I can sit down by myself."

"Sorry." he retreats to his chair. "Sometimes I can't help but see you as the girl that knelt in front of my car."

"I'm sorry." she sighs. "I just...I swore to myself that I'd never be in the position where I had to rely on someone else again."

"I'm nothing like that Lucky guy." Johnny says seriously before going for light humor. "If anything, I'm Unlucky. Totally different."

"You were saying something about finishing our conversation." she counters after rolling her eyes, used to Johnny's sense of humor by now.

"Right. That." he voices, drinking some of his beer before shaking his head. "If there's no way to talk you out of it, I'm willing to help you."

"Seriously?" she looks at him questioningly, confused by his change of heart. "I thought you said that revenge was stupid."

"They tried to kill you." Johnny says with a shrug. "If that doesn't warrant retaliation, I don't know what does."

"Retaliation?" she scoffs, shaking her head at the thought. "They tried to kill me, Johnny. This is war."

Normally he'd think she was being a little too melodramatic, something she normally would agree with, but Johnny could see that she was being completely literal and he didn't blame her. From what she told him, what those wenches did, it would send even the sanest person to the brink of insanity, leaving them with a thirst for blood.

"If you're really going to do this, I have some things to handle." Johnny says after a long moment, placing his fork down onto the plate. "You gonna be okay on your own for a few days?"

"Sure." she says with a shrug. "What kind of trouble can a girl in my condition really get into?"

"Honestly, Liz..." he chuckles before shaking his head. "There's nothing I'm willing to put past you."

"Very smart man." she replies when a thought hits her, prompting her to question, "Do I want to know what you're going to be doing?"

"Probably not." he admits. "Plausible deniability and whatnot."

"Fair enough." she states, lifting her spoon into her hand before meeting his eyes with a serious. "Just don't get yourself killed."

"Ditto."


	7. Things Start to Fall Into Place

Early hours of the day, Johnny drives past the welcome sign to New York City, the one place in the whole country he had fought hard to flee from, in fear of the future that awaits him within the confines of that city. In spite of how much he wanted to do anything else, he knows that he could never truly help Elizabeth without stepping into the shoes he had been born to fit into.

Driving slowly through the city, he fights off the memories that begin to flood his mind, threatening to swallow him whole with the emotions that begin to trudge up because of it. The most prominent memory to rise within him is the memory of the night his sister abandoned him, leaving him to suffer their father alone.

_NNNNNNNNN_

_Standing frozen with tears in his eyes, he watches as his sister quickly loads up her pickup with her belongings, desperate to get away in the dead of night before their father realizes that she's no longer there. He knew that she needed to leave, but that didn't stop him from hating her for it. For leaving him there, alone._

_"I'd take you with me, you know I would, John." she pleads with him to understand. "I just can't right now."_

_"Whatever." he states through gritted teeth, refusing to shed a tear for her. "You do what you gotta do."_

_"Don't be like that." she cries, framing his face in her hands. "I love you! I will come back for you, I swear, John, I'm coming back and I'm gonna get you out of here."_

_"I won't hold my breath." he says plainly, removing her hands before looking at his watch. "You better go. The guards will be coming around any minute."_

_"Mark my words, I will come back for you." she kisses both his cheeks before rushing to the driver's side of the truck. "I swear, John, I'm coming back."_

_As her truck sped through the gates of the estate, he stares after her, etching the moment into the back of his mind. For as long as he could remember, he had always believed that they would leave that place together, that they would always be a team. For her to leave, it became a hard lesson for him to digest,but he would. That it would always, only, be him._

_NNNNNNNNNN_

Shaking the memory from his mind, he focuses on the task at hand, securing the only means he has to help Elizabeth pay back the people who tried to take her life from her. In a strange way, he finds himself drawing parallels with her, between her back story and his. Screwed up childhood, screwed up family, screwed up enemies.

Whatever has him adamant in helping her, the first step requires him to face the one thing he feared the most, the one thing he had fought so hard to avoid, his father. Regardless of how he feels about the old man, about the family business, accepting his father's demands will give him everything he needs to help Elizabeth and that was incentive enough to do what had to be done.

* * *

Alarm blaring on her bedside table, Elizabeth sleepily reaches over to the contraption before slamming her palm upon the snooze button. Time to get to work, she thought, as she carefully slides her legs over the side, snatching up her crutches before inching her way off the bed.

She knows that Johnny means well, that he would probably kick her ass for even attempting anything she was about to do today, but this is her life. Its her struggle and her pain. No matter how thankful she is to him for all he has done, ultimately, she has to do what she feels she has to do and that's to get better as soon as humanly possible.

Finding Johnny's mp3 player on his workout table, she slides the earphones into her ears, blasting the first song to catch her interest on the device. One of her favorite rock songs by Kansas called Carry On Wayward Son. In a strange way, the song portrayed the various emotions that have coursed through her since finding her way back to consciousness.

Staring at the wall with apt determination, she begins light exercises on her legs, needing to get them stretched out before she goes into the heavy exercises. As the pain slowly starts to form, her mind takes her away from it, placing her right into the moment when she finally heads back to Port Charles, the moment when the trio see her for the first and last time.

After nearly dying at the hands of the obsessed trio, she finds that all her fears have become a moot point. Surviving an outright attempt on her life, what more was there to truly be afraid of? After surviving what she has survived, the level of fear she had experienced, Elizabeth finds that she no longer fears death. It'll come when it comes. Till then, she's going to fight like hell to live her life.

Fear had once ruined her. It had become a constant thing in her life. After being attacked in the most horrific of ways for a girl so young, she had allowed the fear to take hold of her, to morph her into someone she wasn't. This time, she refuses to let the fear take control again, she refuses to allow her life to be dictated by the fear. Never again.

* * *

Another late night at his computer, Stan rubs his eyes, truly at his wits end on how to find Elizabeth. He has been tracking her for the last month, following even the smallest leads to finding her, but she still eludes him. Its as if she was purposely trying to evade his prying eyes or...

With a shake of his head, he refuses to believe that anything bad has happened to her, needing to believe that she was simply doing her best to prevent anyone from finding and following her. Forcing his gut to accept that, he trudges off to bed to sleep it off, knowing that things will look better with a few hours of sleep.

He has spent a lot of time teaching her his ways and that gave him hope that he was right, that she was merely remaining below the radar and living her life. Even with that thought coursing through his mind, he still couldn't help but feel that itching feeling that everything is not what it seems. A thought that haunts him through his sleep.

"Emily?" Stan voices groggily, looking at her in confusion as she stands outside his apartment. "Wha...what are you doing here?"

"I need your help." she says, walking past him into his apartment, a sense of urgency in her voice causes him to accept the intrusion. "I don't care if no one else believes me, I know my best friend and I know she wouldn't go this long without calling or emailing me."

"Slow down." Stan guides her to sit down. "Now, you were saying something about Elizabeth."

"I've been calling her and leaving a ton of messages until her inbox was full." Emily says seriously. "I've begged and pleaded for her to call, to do something so I know she's okay, yet nothing. No call. No text. No email. Nothing!"

"That is unusual for Liz." he agrees, but then another thought hits him, a thought he feels compelled to voice. "But..."

"Oh, god, not a but."

"Its possible that she wants a clean break from everyone." Stan points out. "She loved your brother so much and she hasn't been the same since they split up. Maybe, just maybe, you're a reminder of that pain."

"No!" Emily stands up with a stern look in her eyes. "I know my best friend! She would never do this to me! Not to me, not to anyone! Something's not right here, Stan, I know it."

"Okay." he accepts. "I'll see what I can find."

"What can I do?"

"Make a pot of coffee." Stan says seriously, plopping down in front of his computer. "I'm gonna need it. A lot of it."

He knows that he's been at it for the last month, finding nothing that really stood out of the ordinary while still bringing up question after question, but the conviction in Emily's eyes had him intent on picking this entire situation apart, piece by piece, he's going to dissect this thing like only he can. If there's something there to find, he'll find it.

* * *

Pushing harder and harder, refusing to give up, Elizabeth's body meets its limit as she comes crashing down onto her knees, tears falling harder than ever before. Screaming as loud as she possible could, she slams her fists against the floor, her anger boiling hotter and hotter.

"I'm not going to give up." she orders herself, reaching up, she lifts herself up from the floor, her bottom lip trembling from the strain she has put her body through. "I...refuse...to...let...them...win!"

Holding onto the table, she slowly walks, step by step, she makes her way to the end of the table, transferring her support to the wall, following it out of the makeshift gym. Refusing to give up, refusing to let the pain swallow her whole, she walks until she's standing in the doorway, taking a deep breath before releasing her hold on the wall.

"Now or never." she whispers, swiping at her tears before taking a deep breath. "Now or...or never."

With one last deep breath in, she takes her first step, then another, letting out a soft chuckle when she takes another. Her hope slowly rising the closer she gets to the couch, her heart allowing the hope to make its way in, giving her the faith that she can really do it, that she can really make it back to the girl she's meant to be. Back to her full strength.


	8. Calm Before the Hell Storm

In spite of his feelings in regard to Elizabeth pushing her limits, Johnny has spent the last three weeks helping her train and regain her strength, as well as her stamina. Knowing that she would do it whenever he was out of the house, he accepts that it was best to be the one in charge of her exercise regimen. At least, that way, he'll be able to balance out her routine and control the pace.

"That was great." Johnny comments, handing her a bottle of water with her towel. "A few more sessions and you should be set to go."

"No." she shakes her head, slinging the towel across her shoulder. "No more sessions."

"What do you mean?"

"Its time, John." Elizabeth says seriously, downing half her bottle of water. "I'm ready."

"I know it might feel like it..."

"I'm ready." Elizabeth states with conviction. "I've lost enough time, John. I'm going to get this over with and get back to my life."

"Okay, okay." he lifts his hands slightly. "You win."

"Thank you." she smiles slightly, tossing him the towel. "Now...about that cellphone you were offering..."

"About time." Johnny shakes his head, digging in his pocket before tossing his cellphone to her. "Get a feel for what's waiting for us and let me know."

"You got it."

While he heads out of the gym to get things together, Elizabeth dials her voice mail number, hoping that the carrier hasn't cancelled it out or something. As fate would have it, her voice mail begins to play, message after message from her best friends, sending a fluttering feeling through her that they cared enough to call.

What she truly hadn't expected was the reason behind their calls. Looks like the trio's devilish tactics are more refined than she had ever believed. For them to get her best friends to believe, to get Jason to believe, that she had left town of her own accord...suffice to say that none of them will survive what she has planned. None of them.

* * *

Standing on the side of the road, Courtney stares at the spot that had changed her life, unable to believe how hard it has been to put this moment behind her. Elizabeth wasn't her favorite person and vice versa, she shouldn't care that it had taken the woman's life to make hers easier.

If only Elizabeth had kept her mouth shut. It wasn't her life, it wasn't her lie, she never should have given her the ultimatum. So what if she was lying to Jason? Her love was real! It may not have been the love that Elizabeth evidently had for Jason, but it was still real in its own right! As if that wasn't enough, she threatened to tell Jax, too! Why wasn't Jason leaving her enough?

_VvVvVvVvVvVvV_

_"I just don't get it." Elizabeth looks at her confusedly. "Why do you want to live like this?"_

_"Why is it any of your business?" Courtney snaps, glaring at her. "Jax, he's good to me! I love him!"_

_"There's nothing wrong with you, Courtney." Elizabeth voices with sincerity. "You're beautiful as you are. Why would you want to fake it when you can have something real?"_

_"Why can't you get that its none of your business?" Courtney counters sternly. "My life is not your business!"_

_"Because its not right." Elizabeth states. "For you or for Jax. You both deserve so much more!"_

_"You've already taken Jason from me!" Courtney exclaims, fear seeping into her heart. "I won't let you take Jax, too!"_

_VvVvVvVvVvVvVvV_

Shaking the memory from her head, she drops her gaze to the engagement ring on her finger, forcing herself to believe that this was for the best. With Elizabeth out of the way, her secret is finally safe again, never to see the light of day again.

Glancing at the time on her watch, she slowly makes her way back to her car, needing to get back home before Jax gets off. He's taking her on a special date night to honor their engagement properly, something she couldn't help but find truly romantic.

They did the best thing for all of them. She knows it.

* * *

With Courtney's wedding fast approaching, Carly makes her way into the diner to meet with Sam, needing to have a meeting of minds in regard to her relationship with Jason. She and Sonny have already taken the plunge, Courtney will soon have the life she wants with Jax, leaving Sam as the last single woman standing among them.

"I don't know what else I can do." Sam says, truly exasperated by the whole situation. "I mean, he's letting me in more and more, but he's still not willing to let me into his heart."

"You're obviously not trying hard enough." Carly states, shaking her head after a moment. "What's the point of freeing him up if you can't seal the deal?"

"He obviously loves her more than either of us is willing to admit." Sam points out. "I'm at my wits end, Carly. I don't know what else I can do or wear to get him to open up to me."

"Okay, okay." Carly sighs, realizing that this was going to take a lot more than just Sam. "Find a way to get him to go with you to Courtney's rehearsal dinner and I'll take it from there."

"What are you going to do?"

"That's for me to know and you to react to." Carly says simply, rising to her feet. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah...okay." Sam watches her walk out of the diner. "Even while you're dead, you're still screwing with my life. Stupid, Elizabeth."

"What did you just say?" a voice questions from behind her, causing her to turn around in shock. "Did you just say something about Elizabeth?"

"What?" Sam scoffs, rising to her feet, meeting Emily's eyes with a blank expression. "Why would I be talking about that idiot?"

"That's a good question." Emily eyes her sternly. "I heard you say her name. What were you saying about her?"

"I wasn't saying anything about that little goody-goody." Sam walks past her. "Really, Emily, you need to get your ears checked."

Watching her walk out of the diner, Emily's previous thoughts about Elizabeth's sudden disappearance begin to fade as new ones begin. For the last two months, Sam and Carly have been acting weirder than usual. Giving her the sinking feeling that their part in Elizabeth being gone is more significant than anyone realizes.


	9. Home Sweet Home?

Stepping through the door of her studio, Elizabeth finds that the feeling of home no longer surround her, finding her home no longer as she had left it. All her belongings are gone. Her paintings. Her clothes. Her furniture. Everything. Gone.

"You knew that they were being thorough." Johnny voices behind her, giving her a gentle nudge to get her inside before anyone could see them. "Leaving your belongings in your studio wouldn't have helped their cause."

She doesn't reply, she couldn't think of anything to say, not in that moment. Not as she stared at the emptiness of her studio, pained at the thought of what they had done to her things. Not only did they try to end her life, but they have succeeded in erasing her life, as well.

Tears welling up in her eyes, she walks over to her closet, needing to see for herself that it was gone. Ignoring Johnny's watching eyes, she opens the door and reaches up onto the top shelf, dragging her hand over the shelving. With a deep sigh, she shakes her head and turns away, facing the reality that it was really gone.

"Elizabeth..." he voices, unsure of what was going on within her mind.

"I'm fine." she states, swiping at the tears that began to fall from her eyes. "Let's get started."

"If you want to take a moment to just..."

"I said I'm fine, John." she says seriously. "Just...just drop it."

"That's the emotions talking so I'm going to let that slide." Johnny counters, making his way over to her, meeting her eyes with one of understanding. "They tried to kill you, Elizabeth. As if that wasn't bad enough, they violated your privacy by breaking into your home in an attempt to erase your presence."

"What's your point?"

"My point is that you need to come to terms with that before we get started." Johnny states. "Carrying this with you will only prove to cloud your judgement later. You've come to terms with them trying to kill you. That emotional baggage is done...its dealt with. Now, you have to deal with this and let it go before we start."

"If you say so."

"I'm going to do some surveillance." Johnny says, pulling open the door. "About a few hours or so...that should give you enough time to mourn what you lost here."

Turning away from him as he shuts the door behind him, Elizabeth accepts that he's right, something she finds he's really accustomed to when it comes to her. As hard as it was, she was able to let go of the emotional pain she had suffered after they tried to kill her. If she's going to end them, she can't let her emotions get in the way, not this time.

She had always wondered how Jason could shut off his emotions, how he could just turn it off like a switch, believing that it was something she could never accomplish. She wears her emotions on her sleeve, giving everyone the opportunity to trample all over them, but now she sees that she can be like him. After much training, she has accomplished just that, a state of being emotionless.

* * *

Jason could feel his mind cringing with every word she spoke, every instinct in his body urges him to go for his gun, to end the charade now, but he couldn't. Not until he gets the answers that he needs. He just needs her to say the words and it'll all be over.

After what he had learnt from the woman that had once been his best friend, Jason has been hellbent on finding out the truth of that night, the night Elizabeth left town. He's getting closer, he knows it, he could feel it in his gut, but the pathway to get to the truth is one that has surely tested his patience.

"With Courtney's rehearsal dinner coming up, I was wondering if you'd want to go with me." Sam finally gets to her point, causing him to feel a little nauseous. "Before you say it, I swear, we'll only be going as friends, okay?"

"Sure."

"Come on, Jason." Sam whines. "Is it really that terrible to go with me...wait, did you just say sure?"

"Yes."

"Just so I'm not mistaken, you're going to take me to the rehearsal dinner, right?" Sam looks at him earnestly. "As in, we're going together?"

"Sam." he says with that tone that usually gets her to shut up, needing her to do that now more than ever.

"Okay, okay." Sam holds up her hands, deciding to leave while she's ahead. "I have some shopping to do. See you later."

Watching her walk out of the penthouse, he felt like eating a bullet himself, but opts to downing a few doubles before getting ready for the rehearsal dinner that he didn't want to attend. As happy as he is that he's not the one getting married to Courtney, he couldn't help but feel bad for the man that is.

Regardless of their past, Jax wasn't entirely a bad guy and for him to be lied to like this, it just wasn't fair. Normally, he'd feel the need to lay it out there for the man, giving him the choice of whether or not he wanted to marry Courtney, because that's what Elizabeth would want him to do, but he just can't. Not as long as he needed answers of his own.

* * *

Emily watches Carly and Courtney as they sit for lunch in the diner. She knows that they know something about Elizabeth, regardless of Stan coming up empty, she knows that they are. The only problem now was to prove it. Something that wasn't exactly easy to do. Especially now that Carly has her husband's resources at her disposal.

Jason has told her to leave it alone, but that just wasn't her. She's not the leave alone type, something that he should know by now. With Elizabeth hanging in the balance, Emily just wasn't in the mood to let her brother handle it. Regardless of her brother's abilities, Elizabeth's her best friend and she knows for a fact that Elizabeth would do the same for her.

"Emily Quartermaine." she voices as she answers her cellphone, not even bothering to take her eyes off the two long enough to look at the caller id.

"Hello, Miss Emily Quartermaine." Elizabeth's voice catches her by surprise. "I hear you've been looking for me."

"Oh, my god!" Emily gasps, shooting up in her seat and making a quick exit from the diner. "Where the hell are you?"

"I'll tell you on two conditions." Elizabeth says seriously. "You come alone and you make sure you're not followed."

"Done and done." she blurts out without hesitation. "Now tell me where you are."

"My studio." she replies. "Get over so I can hug you already."

"I'm on my way."

Doing her best to make sure her presence doesn't draw any attention from anyone, she quickly makes her way to the docks before climbing the godforsaken stairs that lead to Elizabeth's studio. She has a million questions, but none of it matters now. All that matters is getting to her best friend and wrapping her arms around her, knowing for sure that she's okay.

The moment she pushes the door open, tears well up in her eyes at the sight of her best friend, immediately noticing the scars that are scattered over Elizabeth's arms and neck, with a few along her jawline and cheeks. She wasn't sure what happened to her, but she knew she'd hate it.

Pushing all those thoughts aside for the moment, she rushes into Elizabeth's arms, knocking the breath right out of her on impact. Clinging to her best friend, she allows herself to breathe a breath of relief, knowing for certain that she was okay.

"What happened to you?" Emily questions as Elizabeth walks over to the door and shuts it. "Stan and I have been searching for you, but keep coming up empty."

"Its a long story." Elizabeth admits, smiling slightly as she turns to look at Emily again. "You have no idea how good it is to see you, Em."

"What happened, Liz?" Emily questions again. "What did Carly and the two witches do?"

"How did you figure out..."

"They suck at lying." Emily waves off the question. "Will you please tell me what they did?"

"They killed me." Elizabeth states bluntly. "At least they believe that they did."

"What?!"

"Like I said, its a long story." Elizabeth gestures for her to sit down. "Might as well get comfortable while I tell you."

Sitting down, Emily tries her best to remain seated as Elizabeth tells her everything that happened the day that she supposedly left town. With every word spoken, she felt her stomach tighten, feeling sick to her core at the lengths that the trio had gone to get rid of Elizabeth.

"You need to call Jason." Emily says seriously. "He needs to know what they've done."

"No. I can't." Elizabeth shakes her head. "This is my fight and I have to be the one to put an end to them."

"What are you going to do?"

"What Jason does best." Elizabeth says simply. "I never wanted to bring you into this, but I just couldn't let you believe that I didn't care enough to call."

"Come on, its me you're talking about." Emily smiles slightly. "Its because you didn't call that I knew something wasn't right."

"And that's why you're my best friend."

"I just wish you'd call Jason and let him help you."

"He'd stop me." Elizabeth counters. "As much as I love him, I need to do this on my own."

"What can I do to help?"

"Emily..."

"You're my best friend and they tried to kill you." Emily cuts her off swiftly. "Tell me what I can do to help."

"I guess..." Elizabeth sighs, trying to think of something, knowing Emily wouldn't leave now. "Can you tell me about what the three have been up to since I've been gone?"

"You might want to get comfortable." Emily chuckles. "Because that's a long story."


End file.
